Adding Different Flavors to Your Favorite Cup of Coffee
Written by Damian Papworth   
Saturday, 24 October 2009 10:24
You might say that coffee is an acquired taste, as it will often strike people as bitter upon first encounter. For this reason, people will commonly add milk and sugar to a cup of coffee in a an effort to soften the impact or to sweeten the taste. For people with more of a sweet tooth, even that might not do the trick. The process of adding different flavors to coffee drinks -- or even to the bean itself -- is nothing new, but the number of coffee flavors available is increasing all the time.
by DamianPapworth


You might say that coffee is an acquired taste, as it will often strike people as bitter upon first encounter. For this reason, people will commonly add milk and sugar to a cup of coffee in a an effort to soften the impact or to sweeten the taste. For people with more of a sweet tooth, even that might not do the trick. The process of adding different flavors to coffee drinks -- or even to the bean itself -- is nothing new, but the number of coffee flavors available is increasing all the time.

Prior to recent times, when considering different flavors for coffee, most people would think about chocolate (mocha) as the main option. It took just one small step to add chocolate to an espresso drink, as most of the cafes in Europe serve hot chocolate drinks along with the rest of the menu. While the caf? mocha is a drink that can be found in most of the world?s cafes, other types of flavors have followed suit. Some were formulated to mimic the classic liqueurs, flavors like Irish cr?me or cr?me de menthe. Others were more traditional (orange, hazelnut) and were added in small doses to drinks much like a shot or liqueur would be added to a cocktail.

Beyond that, coffee flavors have been taken all the way back to the bean itself. Coffee is now available in whole bean form in flavors such as hazelnut and mocha. The coffee drinker has to be aware that coffee simply cannot be grown in different flavors, so any way the gets the flavor must by nature be artificial (though the ingredients don?t have to be). If you see coffee being offered in machines with different flavors, you can be assured that you are not getting a natural brew.

Besides the most basic coffee flavors, you can find pistachio, white chocolate, almond, orange and more topping the list at cafes right there with hazelnut or mocha. In fact, if there is a flavor that can conceivably be matched up with coffee, you will find it, maybe even in organic form.

There is nothing artificial about chocolate in the hands of the right producer, of course, so enjoying a caf? mocha can have a more natural flavor than some of the syrups. The natural properties of both can blend together nicely.

Intense coffee drinks that have elements like pumpkin and cinnamon may seem more like a winter cider than coffee, yet they have become extremely popular.

Adding a variety of different syrups or creams to a coffee drink will certainly make its nutritional properties vary widely from a typical cup off coffee with a spoon of sugar or ounce of milk. Coffee drinkers who grow accustomed to highly sweetened beverages that the fat and overall caloric content will be significant. Keeping it simple will allow a coffee beverage to retain its most beneficial qualities.

For most coffee purists, the more you see tampering with the basic coffee form, the less appeal it will have. For those with a sweet tooth who aren?t crazy about traditional coffee, different flavors will add a significant amount of appeal and probably keep you going back to your favorite corner caf? for some time.

About the Author:

Damian Papworth, a coffee lover, has recently been investigating 4 cup coffee makers. He recorded his findings on the One Cup Coffee Makers site.